The present invention relates to an article of footwear, and in particular to an article with an intermediate sized outsole.
Khalifa (U.S. patent application number 2008/018684) teaches an article of footwear for mass manufacture and assembled largely without stitching. Khalifa teaches an article of footwear with an upper made from a textile. The upper is attached to a sole including an outsole, a footbed insert, and a locking strip. The outsole contains openings configured to receive projections disposed on the locking strip. Further, all three portions of the sole include an opening to receive a locking plug. During assembly, the upper is attached to the locking strip, such as by gluing. The footbed is aligned with the outsole so that the openings configured to receive the locking plug align. The locking strip is snap fitted to the outsole so that the projections on the locking strip are received into the openings on the outsole and so that the openings for receiving the locking plug on the locking strip is aligned with the corresponding openings on the outsole and the footbed insert. Finally, the locking plug is inserted through the openings in the outsole, footbed, and locking plug.
The footbed may be provided as a half size smaller than the outsole or the same size as the outsole. This is done so that the half size can be accommodated without the need for a different outsole for each whole and half size.